How to transport your bike around London and the UK

Taking your bike on the coach or train isn’t always the easiest of feats.

But you might need to use public transport for a number of reasons: you want to do a bike trip that’s too far to cycle to, you have a puncture, you don’t feel well or you’ve finished a tour/sportive/race and your legs are just too zonked to even entertain the idea of riding home.

Luckily, our national networks can help you get at least some of the way to your destination.

So, whether you want to get your bike around London or the rest of the UK, here’s a round-up of how to do it using different modes of transport.

Taking your bike on public transport in London

Generally speaking, if you’ve got a folding bike, you can take it anywhere at any time. Just be careful when you’re taking the bus as these bikes are only allowed on at the driver’s discretion.

As for non-folded bicycles, it gets a little more complicated. For example, you can take your bike on the Docklands Light Railway off-peak Monday-Friday. That means they’re allowed on until 07:30, between 09:30 and 16:00 and after 19:00. They’re also allowed on all day at the weekends and bank holidays.

TfL publish a map showing where you can take your non-folding bike on the underground at off-peak hours. This is a great resource to bookmark if you will be needing to take your bike on the underground. You may be surprised how much of the underground is open to cyclists.

Watch out for Prudential Ride London and the like; TfL recommends that you avoid the DLR during big events.

It’s much the same story for non-folded bikes on London Overground.

There are a couple of important caveats:

You can take it between 07:30 and 09:30 if you’re leaving Liverpool Street Station to go to Chingford, Enfield Town or Cheshunt or going the other way between 16:00 and 19:00.

As for TfL Rail, non-folded bikes can’t be taken on a train arriving at Stratford or Liverpool Street between 07:45 and 09:45 and leaving Liverpool St or Stratford between 16:30 and 18:30 Monday-Friday, except bank holidays.

If you’re riding the Thames instead, most riverboat services accept bikes on board – just let the boat operator know in advance. For those who prefer to go up and over, bikes are OK to be taken on the Emirates Air Line at any time of day.

And sorry Croydon-based cyclists, you can’t take non-folded bike on the tram.

Bike transport in the rest of the UK

Allowances vary a little here, so let’s take it by mode of transport:

Coach

Megabus says that normal adult bikes are unlikely to meet their luggage requirements and cannot be carried on coaches.

As for folded bikes, they are allowed on but they must meet luggage requirements (no heavier than 20kg and no bigger than a ‘large’ suitcase) and they must be kept in a standard bag or box in the hold. It counts as part of your luggage allowance and just because it made the journey there, doesn’t mean it’ll be allowed on the journey back.

Megabus can carry folded bikes in the hold

Bikes which aren’t folded, dismantled or wrapped are explicitly forbidden from National Express services.

If you want to take a folded bike, you’ll have to pay for extra luggage in advance. Taking it on a single journey will cost you £8 and on a return journey it’ll be £12.

Train

As a general rule, you can’t take your bike on trains during peak hours and you’re advised to book as far in advance as possible as there are often only a couple of cycle spaces per train.

Reserve your spaces when you book online, at the train station (at least 24 hours before you go) or on CrossCountry services you can reserve via Twitter and Facebook Messenger.

For more info, check the site of the service you’re travelling with or have a look at the train operators website.

Some GWR trains have a carriage which carries a handful of bikes (and stragglers like me if we’re not careful!)

Plane

On British Airways you can take a bike up to 190cm as long as it’s in a protective case, the pedals are removed or fixed upwards, handlebars are fixed sideways and the tyres are deflated.

As expected with Ryanair, there’s a fee – £60 for a bike up to 30kg if you book online or £75 if add it on post-booking or at the airport. And that’s only one-way.

EasyJet are somewhat kinder, allowing bikes up to 32kg for £42 one-way if you book online and £52 if you wait until you get to the airport. You can’t sneak other items in the bike box/bag like clothing though. Again, handlebars must be turned inwards and pedals must be removed or flush with the frame.

Flybe take bikes on a stand-by basis only i.e. there’s enough space in the hold.

If you want to take an e-bike, you’ll need to chat to cargo agent Air Logistics Ltd for guidance on 01332 819204 or by emailing flybe@airlogistics.co.uk. If approved, the bike will need to be packed, labelled, marked, documented and consigned as ‘dangerous goods’.

It’ll set you back £30 if you book your bike on at the contact centre or at the airport.

Tram

In a lot of instances, folded-up bikes can be taken on trams and non-folded ones can’t.

However, Edinburgh trams allow two bicycles on board at the ticket conductor’s discretion. As well as peak times, there are restrictions during the Edinburgh International Festival in August and during pre-publicised events.

Tyne and Wear Metro are holding a trial which allows cycles outside of peak times:

Cycles are now allowed on trains between Callerton Parkway and Jesmond (in either direction):

Monday to Friday 10.00am – 3.00pm

Monday to Friday 7.00pm until end of service

All day at weekends

Each Metro carriage allows one bike and each Metrocar is made up of two carriages. These areas are also used for wheelchairs and pushchairs and priority must always be given to them.

Are there any that we missed? How do you cart your bike around when you’re not riding it? Let us know in the comments below.

Huge omission! Although non-folded bikes are banned on the tube at all times, outside rush hour you can take yours in the cut-and-cover lines with no trouble. That means District Line, Metropolitan, Hammersmith & City and Circle Line. I will be interested to hear what plans are for the Elizabeth Line — I suspect something similar to the Overground.

For Stratford you can get the Metropolitan/District to Bow Road or West Ham and change onto the DLR or cycle from there.

My experience is that Virgin Trains May have a small space at the driver’s end of the train, just behind his cab, where there is a bar with a strap on. You need to lift your front wheel up to this strap. Once the strap was missing. Luckily I was carrying a bungee and was able to use that. Don’t trust the staff to put the bike on the train for you especially if you are down the other end in first class. Mine got left behind! Different Virgin trains have different cycle accommodation. Make sure you have reserved in plenty of time.

Rush hours seem to be getting longer, and at 3:30pm in Wolverhampton I had passengers bemoaning me bring a bike into a crowded open area where bikes are permitted.

ScotRail. You have to hope that you are first on at the start of the journey as chances are the bike spaces will be fill with foldable pushchairs. In the old days these used to have to be folded and put in the luggage racks, these days parents don’t bother.

Buses in Shetland. I can only speak for Leasks and they won’t accept non-folding bikes on their buses in case you get oil on the seats, although they do accept passengers with filthy overalls.

Coaches between Braemar and Aberdeen have taken my full sized bike underneath with the luggage. If a bus runs on the route instead of a coach then it won’t. The timetable won’t tell you what is coming, but there is a number that you can ring displayed at each bus stop, and they should be able to tell you.

Joined up transport provision has a long way to go in the UK. Ring ahead is my best advice.

To be honest, transport provisions for bicycles are poor across most networks i would say. I have caught buses and trains, and both, regardless of the company have done little to cater for cyclists. Buses provide no space at all full stop.

I used to catch the London Midland (now West Midlands Trains if i remember correctly) and also the Cross Country across the Midlands. WMT provided no accessible space per carriage for bikes, with many cyclists having to stand by the doors and the toilets, foldable bikes did help but that wasnt the point.

On the other hand, Cross Country had 2 designated cycle bar straps where you can literally make upright and stand your bike. These were available on each carriage by the doors. This was probably the best format i have come across, not only that, they couldnt be blocked or used for anything else as they were slim enough to prop up your cycle and nothing else.

Some trains still require you to book your bike space beforehand and it doesnt look too good when companies like Great Western Railway state that there wont be any space for bikes!

Where you are restricted to guards vans the service design of actually getting your bike on the train leaves much to be desired. One of the biggest problems I find in taking my bike on intercity trains is uncertainty about which end the guard van will be. More than once I have waited patiently as the train pulls in, only to find I have to run with my bike to the other end of the train. Another time I got the right end but the station staff responsible for opening the guards van were nowhere to be seen, resulting in another frantic dash along the platform to find someone!

On GWR trains it really is advisable to book if you know when you are travelling. I once took my chances and ended up waiting for over two hours at Reading because the platform staff refused to let me in on with out a reservation even though there were spaces. I only blagged it when the staff changed.

Other companies and stations can be more flexible but if there is a rule that says you have to book you can’t rely on getting someone who isn’t bothered about sticking to the letter of the staff manual!

On Underground bikes are allowed on those lines that are above ground. i.e. East Finchley Northward. Golders Green Northward, Metroplitan.
A word of warning for those travelling by air with their bikes in a bike box. Whilst you can ‘smuggle’ your kit in, don’t put CO2 cylinders in with your bike. They will be removed…and binned. Also watch where you back your pedal spanner. Don’t put it in hand luggage. I once needed to explain to French security that I had no intention to dismantle the aircraft in mid flight using mine

The Oxford Tube, the bus service between Oxford and London is able to carry two non-folding bikes. Here is what the website says: “We have a large storage area on each coach where bikes can be placed during the journey. If the coach/storage area is full then all customers, including those with a bike, must wait for the next coach. Up to two cycles may be carried at any one time, subject to available space.”

Never used it myself, but I know people who have and they said it worked well.

Eurostar trains between London and Paris have a great service with Eurodispatch, they don’t guarantee it will travel same train as you but likely to be same day. Fully secured service and loading for something like £20 one way you just need to drop your bike them and it can be up to a week in advance, or collect up to a week later 🙂

@Becky – for £30 you can have it on the same Eurostar as you most of the time but you may have to put it in their box at the station, turning handlebars and so on. Very few spaces for full bikes on each train. Also available to Lille and Brussels, but not further south in France.

@BL – trains and tube haven’t started early enough for Ride London in past years. People had to stay over and ride CS2 to the start (much of CS3 is closed as part of the route)

In general, folded bikes are accepted on UK buses if there is sufficient luggage space and the bike is either clean (including having the chain on the inside of the fold, unlike many Dahon ones) or bagged, while non-folding bikes are only accepted on a few special services, such as the Cambridgeshire Bike Bus Explorer.